TIRANA, July 5 – Belgium’s Council of State has decided to remove Albania from the list of safe countries of origin following an increase in the number of Albanian asylum seekers. Under a June 23 decision, the Council which also serves as Belgium’s Supreme Administrative Court said it was making the decision because of the high number of Albanians who were granted international protection prior to the introduction of the list of safe countries of origin in 2012.The decision comes at a time when Albania is planning to approve a long-awaited justice reform which has been set as a top priority to open the country’s EU accession talks.
Under this decision, Belgium has become the first EU member country to remove Albania from the list of safe countries of origin.
“The rate of asylum seekers from Albania remained high since 2014. As such, the State Council finds it impossible for Albania to be considered a safe country of origin,” says the Council of State.
According to the statement, “a country is considered safe if it can prove on a general and sustainable basis that there is no persecution or inhuman and degrading treatment in that country.” Belgium included Albania on the list of safe countries of origin in 2012 as a result of the country’s efforts to fight organized crime and human trafficking.
Belgium also favored visa liberalization for citizens of Albania who still enjoy visa free travel to Schengen countries.
The opposition Democratic Party described Belgium’s recent ruling as a serious blow to the country’s EU aspirations. Secretary General of the Democratic Party and former minister of Interior, Arben Ristani blamed Prime Minister Edi Rama’s leadership for failing to apply security standards and paving the way to crime, drugs, weapons trafficking and masked robberies.
“No EU member can accept a country where the Prime Minister replaces law with the rule of gangs, where crime has power and the government is criminalized. No EU member can accept a country where drug traffickers, pimps and rapists, become MPs, mayors and senior heads of administration and state police,” said Ristani. He warned that citizens of Albania are being punished and underlined that such move can “set in motion the mechanism for the reintroduction of visas with Albania.”
Earlier in June, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that Albanians were first after Syria in the number of asylum seekers in European Union. According to UNHCR, 53,800 Albanians applied for asylum during 2015, six times more than in 2014.
In Belgium, the list of safe countries of origin which includes Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and India is adopted by Royal Decree and is reviewed at least once a year.
